Dwi further exposed that UNESCO has declared April 29th as the world’s dancing day since 1982. “The idea of the world’s dancing day was behind this event”, he said. In Solo it has been made into an annual event since four years back. The first three Solo Menari 24 Jam was held only in one place, Institut Seni Indonesia. To attract more involvement from the public, this year the event is also held in public area, inviting everybody to participate including mall staffs, school students, police officers, and many more.

Togetherness did not necessarily mean that everybody has to dance. For example, police officers on duty were not involved to dance, but wear dancing scarf. In various spots across the city polices are wearing the scarf.

The mayor of Solo, Joko Widodo, symbolically inaugurated the event by sounding gong at Solo Square whilst his deputy, Hadi Rudyatmo inaugurate the event at Institut Seni Indonesia. Gong was sounded at both places on 06.30 in the morning. Being mor popular place in the city, the event at Solo Square attracted more attention. Various modern and traditional dance performed consecutively. Among others was contemporary composition of Ramayana epic composed by Romo Tundung.

The event also presented dances from other areas outside Solo including Jogja, Wes Java, East Java, Pekanbaru, East Kalimantan, Lampung, even Malaysia. “They financed their own costs, we provide nothing more than stage, shelter, and meals”, Dwi said. No report if Bali as the nation’s most popular holiday destination was participated.

Solo Paragon Apartment will be ready for full operation in September this year. Construction of the 25-floors building is currently entering final stage. “All condotel and residence units at Solo Paragon will be ready to be occupied by their owners in September, whilst some other facilities such as mall and citiwalk will be ready in 2011″, the Public Relations Director of Solo Paragon, Ira Oktarini, told the press at her office.

Ira further explained that at he moment her office is still extensively promoting the apartment to sell the remaining few units. Ont he other hand they are also preparing for gradual key handover to the owners. However handover of the unit themselves will be started in June.

“As we handover the units we will have a trial period of both condotel and residence units for the owner. This will allow us sufficient time window to take their inputs before full operation in September”, she explained.

Ira said that sales to date for condotel is 95%. “We only have 10 units remaining out of the total of 237 condotel units”, she said. The more luxurious and more expensive residence units show weaker sales however by recording only 75% out of 130 standard residences and 30 exclusive residences sold out.

After completion the apartment will be operated by Tauzia Hotel Management which has been appointed by the developer of Solo Paragon Apartment, PT Sunindo Gapura Prima.

In addition to availability of alternative transportation facility, the tourist bus is also expected to make stay period longer. Unfortunately the idea to provide public tourist bus has been negatively responded by the tourism industry players themselves. They believe that the government shall focus more in flowing more tourist visits in. So far most foreign visitors to Solo are coming for business purposes.

Wacana operasional bis wisata di Solo muncul dari Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan (Balitbang) Dinas Perhubungan Komunikasi dan Informasi (Dishubkominfo) Provinsi Jawa Tengah. Selain untuk memberi alternatif moda transportasi, keberadaan bus wisata diharapkan dapat memperpanjang masa tinggal wisatawan di Kota Solo. Only very small fraction of them are coming for holiday, most in a very short stay period.

“Number of visiting tourists is still very limited. We think that it is better to focus on delivering tourists to stay in many hotels in Solo”, Suseno Hadi Parwono, owner of Mandira Tours and Travel who also serves as the Adviser of Indonesian Association of Travel Agents (ASITA) Solo Chapter, told Kompas daily.

Transportation researcher from Soegijapranata Catholic University, Semarang, who accompanied Balitbang Dishubkominfo of Central Java exposed that the tourist bus shall be made available in two routes between Lor Inn Hotel and the plaza of Surakarta Palace, each with 14 and 17 kilometers distance respectively. The bus to stop at 20 points covering hotels, restaurants, tourist attraction, culinary centers, handicraft centers, traditional markets, and shopping centers. He further explained that a bus transportation company as expressed its interest in providing the tourist bus and managing its operation.

Head of Yogyakarta Branch of PT Kereta Api, Rustam Harahap explained that arrival of the train is a part of collaboration between the company and the City Government of Surakarta to restore the nostalgic route between Purwosari station and Sangkrah city station. The route encompasses 5.6 kilometers of track. “The route will be restored for tourism purposes. As announced by the Mayor of Surakarta, Joko Widodo, the steam train will be launched on September 17th 2009″, he said.

He furthermore admitted that the train is currently not in a good shape for operation yet. To bring it into working order when it is launched, some reparation and improvement works will take place in the next one week.

Operation of the train will remain under the responsibility of PT Kereta Api. “We will employ six operators, all of which are retirees of PT Kereta Api who hold special certificate to operate antique steam trains like the one we will operate here in Solo”, he continued. PT Kereta Api will also responsible in maintenance of the train.

Mayor of Surakarta, Joko Widodo said that the City Government of Surakarta will cover the operational cost of the steam train which will support the Solo tourism. “Operational cost is estimated at 3.2 million rupiah for every 12 kilometers”, he said. He further explained that the train will be made available for public every weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Between Monday and Friday the train will only operate in charter basis. However schedule and ticket price are not determined yet.

The City Government of Surakarta expects the train to start it service on September 18th 2009, one day after its launching. “We will enter a cooperation with private company to operate the train”, the Mayor said. Presence of the antique train is expected to boost number of visiting tourists to the city.

Most long haul tourists spend quite a long period for their holidays. It is quite understandable in fact. As it will be a waste of the stay only a few days between more than 12 hours flights. Unfortunately, no mater how diverse the offerings Bali has, many started to get bored and wonder for escapes, just to get some different feels.  So far Lombok has been the favorite to most. Reachabe in a mere 30 minutes flights, Lombok offers a different pictures especially from the cultural perspective. However, being a tropical island, it offers similar scenes in any other point of views: beaches.

No one noticed Solo as an alternative. So far hidden behind the more famous sister Yogyakarta, Solo in fact offers a lot more. Escape from Bali tours only take about 45 minutes flight to get to Yogyakarta, from where a short 60 kilometers trip can be taken either by car or train through scenic rural attraction with many archeological sites left from other centuries including the picturesque Prambanan Temple.

Once get there, a lot of selections are awaiting. Accommodations are available from budget to luxury, at almost a half price compared to Bali. The city offers a lot of ancient traditional attractions including palaces and markets. Outskirt trails includes heritage journeys to archeological sites and tropical hillside. Many are interested in local products which has an enormous international popularity. Some started serious business after their first visit to Solo. Two popular products are batik and wooden furniture.

Consult Bali Tours Online for a privately designed excursion to the heart of Java. Very well connected to local providers, their tour consultants can arrange almost every wishes.